Top 10 Motorcycle Hacks

1. Coat Hanger Cruise Control

Have you ever had a really long freeway ride ahead of you and wished you had cruise control like the cool sport-touring bikes we recently tested? Well, by simply scavenging a piece of clutter from your closet, you can create a friction lock for your throttle. Cut the long side off of a wire coat hanger and bend it in half over your throttle grip. Take a pair of locking pliers and clamp the two pieces together about a half inch over the brake lever. Now, twist the wire with the pliers, safety wire-style, until the coat hanger creates enough friction with the grip to overcome the throttle-return spring and hold it in place against the brake lever. Once you’re certain there is enough friction, trim the wire to length and file off the sharp edges. If this sounds a little too permanent for your tastes, wrap the coat hanger around the throttle 1.5 turns and use a rubber band to hold the wires together. When you no longer need it, just unwind the wire.

We’re sure we don’t need to tell you that you’ll need to roll off the throttle manually when you want to slow down, but we just did, anyway, to keep the lawyers happy.

Re. using garbage bags as wind block, a tip from hobos: newspaper! Besides being easy to find in a garbage can, newspaper has the added advantage over garbage bags of having more “body”, so it’ll stay in place on your arms, legs etc as you pull on your riding gear.

Terry Smith

The tape strip on the visor is an absolute must for low sun conditions. I added this to my helmet in May and can’t see myself ever taking it off. It feels a bit weird at first (like there’s something hanging over your head!), but after a few seconds you don’t notice. Makes no difference to my vision at all, but if I used a racing crouch it might.

Gixxerfan

For cruise control I just used a 4 inch rubber ‘O’ ring washer that i loop over my mirror and handle bar and when I want to use it I can just slide it down between the grip and the kill switch housing. And viola! Much easier than twisting up a piece of wire and much less obtrusive.

Steve VandeKieft

Good stuff here. I think a couple of these will come in handy when need arises.

myassbleedsforyou

great ideas!

Josh Mcdonald

Put the latex glove over your riding glove instead of under it… Even if you have vented gloves they now become insulation under the weatherproof latex. That cruise control looks like something that could end up in your face in the case of an accident.

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